Seething, Barely Breathing
by Ravenspear
Summary: It’s been four days, give or take, since they were ambushed, and as Hidan's original theory that Kakuzu was just leaving him to rot for the fun of it became more and more unlikely, he decided he just wasn’t going to think about it at all.


**Title:** Seething, Barely Breathing  
**Characters/Pairings:** Hidan/Kakuzu (platonic or romantic, depending on your point of view), Kakashi  
**Notes:** Spoilers for the awful that is chapter 342.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_, or any of its characters, and I do not make any money from this.

* * *

It's not the end of him.

Seriously, that pony-tailed Konoha bastard must have been really fucking stupid to think dismemberment and a burial under a tonne or two of rubble would keep Hidan down. He's suffered much worse in his days – most of it _entirely_ willingly – and he's never come out worse for wear. Soon enough, he'll crawl out of this grave and continue carrying out Jashin's glorious work, and all that idiot brat's big show of vengeance will have amounted to is a week or two of lost time for a man who will live forever. It's enough to make Hidan laugh, deep below the feet of his Nara guardians.

For now, though, magnificent slaughter will have to wait as the great power of Jashin mends his body, helped along those of Kakuzu's creepy-ass fucking blood vessels within his body that are still functional and animate. He gives it about a week until he's all put together again. Meanwhile, he skillfully avoids thinking about where the fuck Kakuzu is; it's been four days, give or take, since they were ambushed, and as his original theory that the bastard was just leaving him to rot for the fun of it became more and more unlikely, he decided he just wasn't going to think about it at all.

Hidan concentrates on the feeling of a centipede crawling along his neck, to distract himself from the moment of temporary weakness when he wishes that his head were severed from his torso again, just so he couldn't feel that cold, uneasy feeling that has settled in the pit of his stomach.

----

His guards are dead. He has torn apart their bodies with his bare hands and drawn Jashin's holy seal in the sand with their blood. For extra effect, he's cut out the heart of the man that carried the most resemblance to the little bitch that had put Hidan in the hole and nailed it to a tree with the man's own kunai, then he's painted a bloody little smiley-face next to it, just because it seems like the sort of thing that will get those Konoha fucks all riled up.

He's not stalling for time. Seriously, he's really fucking not.

----

When Hidan sees the crater, it's a strange feeling that comes over him; his limbs grow weak and goosebumps race across his skin, and his mind goes nearly entirely fucking blank.

His legs speed up despite their heaviness, and then he's at the edge of the crater, suddenly so still that even his heart seems to have stopped beating, staring down at the dark patch of bloodstained sand in the center.

He already knows. He fucking already _knows_, but the part of his mind that screams that Kakuzu was supposed to fucking stay around forever refuses to believe.

As suddenly as he stopped, he's moving again, down the side of the crater towards that big fucking stain that can't be Kakuzu's blood, just _can't_, and sinking to his hands and knees beside it, pressing his nose close to the ground, hoping not to recognize the scent

Hidan has never grieved before, has never had anyone in his life that he wouldn't have been able to send into the waiting arms of Jashin with a smile and a laugh before, so when his nose if filled with the oh-so-familiar scent of Kakuzu, he doesn't know how to react. He just remains there, kneeling with his forehead resting in the reddened dust that is all that is left of his partner, his breathing shallow and his eyes gritty and dry.

----

His new scythe is not as good as his old one. He never quite manages to get a real good grip on it, and it's oddly balanced. He's not too fond of the color, either; he misses the glint of silver when he swings it.

However, it's still sharp as fuck, and it deals some gruesome damage, and seriously, that is really all Hidan cares about right now, standing face to face with Konoha's infamous Copy-Ninja.

"I really wish you'd stop fucking jumping around so much.. Makes it _really_ fucking hard to hit you, seriously," he says, a tingle up his spine that's half gleeful anticipation and half the remains of Kakashi's Chidori working it's way through his nerves.

"You've already hit me once. Several times, even. Isn't that all you need?" Kakashi responds, breathing heavily as he tries to staunch the blood flowing freely from the deep wound in his side.

Hidan grins, fingering the hole in his chest where the Chidori blew straight through his left lung. "Nah. I don't want it to end that fucking easily. And anyway, this isn't a kill I want to involve Jashin-sama in. This is entirely personal, you know?"

The one of Kakashi's eyes that isn't a crushed bloody mess widens almost imperceptibly in realization, and maybe surprise. "You didn't track me down in the capacity of an Akatsuki member," he states, slowly, and Hidan wonders if the son-of-a-bitch is getting dizzy from blood loss, or if he's just more slow in the head than he makes himself out to be. "You're just here because of your partner." The bastard seems amazed at that, as if it's shocking that Hidan would come after all these Konoha bitches for the same reasons as they came after him.

"Your powers of deduction are really fucking brilliant, heathen. I can really see how they let you graduate from the Academy so early," Hidan drawls, rolling his eyes before boring them into Kakashi's only remaining one. "You destroyed something that fucking _belonged_ to me. I get really fucking _pissed_ when people mess with my shit."

Kakashi dodges the scythe by jumping upwards, coming to rest on the limb of a tree, and Hidan can see the the exhaustion in his enemy's moves. Good. Then maybe all this fucking foreplay could finally be over, and Hidan could show that one-eyed freak _exactly_ how much pain Kakuzu's death is worth.

* * *

Ravenspear loves her some concrit? 


End file.
